Redemption
by JaggerK
Summary: Jade discovers an old ritual that will allow her leave the League of Shadows with a clean slate to have a life with Roy & Lian - if she lives - Roy, with the help of Dinah, Selina, and Lois goes to make sure she gets out alive.


I have the rights to nothing DC owns.

STAR CITY

QUEEN MANOR

Dinah pushed Roy into the room ahead of her. He saw Selina leaning against a wall and Lois looking out the window. Lois turned when she heard them coming in and smiled at him. Selina's seemingly casual stance never changed and his brain automatically catalogued the number of ways she could attack or defend from the position she was in. Likely there were even more than what he know of, she was a Bat after all.

"Ladies, is this an intervention?" He smiled roguishly at them. "Because otherwise, I'm taken."

Dinah smacked the back of his head just hard enough for him to feel with her open hand. He muttered an 'ow' and rubbed his head.

"We're here to talk." Selina still didn't move but her eyes latched on to his and held. "About Jade."

Roy stiffened. "What about Jade?"

Dinah put her hand on his arm. "They're here to help. You said Jade wants to put her past behind her."

"Can she do that?" Lois asked. "Will the Shadows just let her leave?"

"Yes." "No." Roy and Selina answered at the same time. Roy frowned and pulled a note from his pocket. "Jade went to the Shadows to do a ceremony that will let her leave them for good. To have a life with me and Lian."

"That's good Roy, that's great." Lois smiled encouragingly. "If she can make that happen and she's really committed to turning her life around we're here for you. We all know how hard it's been for Sel-"

"She told you she went to do this ceremony?" Selina interrupted Lois.

"She left this note." Roy held it out to Selina who took it and read it carefully.

Selina's eyes widen and flicked up to Roy's then over to Dinah. "Suit up. We're going to Nanda Parbat."

BATPLANE

SOMEWHERE OVER THE ATLANTIC

"Care to explain to me why this ceremony isn't going to work out for Jade?" Lois had flat out refused to be left behind in Star City. She had agreed that she would remain safely on the Batplane when they arrived at their destination and return to Gotham if the others didn't come back to the plane by a specified time. As a precaution, Selina and Dinah had outfitted her with plain Kelvar and armour. Fortunately, Tim always left a stock of domino masks in the Batplane so Lois had one of those affixed to her face as well.

"They have this ceremony, sure, but nobody's tried it in the last century that we know of." Selina rubbed her hand across her neck. "Nobody who ever tried it before that lived. Bruce got into their computers. He got some…..not pleasant information."

"Nobody living would discourage others from trying." Lois swallowed. "Do you think she knows?"

Selina looked into the back of the plane where Dinah and Roy sat talking. "She would. It's the sort of thing Ra's would make sure everyone would know."

Alfred's image appeared at that moment on the screen.

"Miss Selina. Miss Lois." He nodded at both ladies. "I've figured out the mostly likely path that Chesch- Miss Jade would be taking based on the Shadows' files. I'm downloading the information to the Batplane's computer now." He paused for a moment. "Are you certain, Miss Selina, that you wouldn't like Master Bruce's assistance with this?"

"NO!" Lois was shocked at the vehemence with which Selina responded. Selina drew a breath. "I'm sorry, Alfred. No. I think we can both agree that after what happened last time the last place he needs to be is near that woman. We have it covered. Thank you. If you find anything else…"

"I'll pass it along directly." Alfred's gaze switched from Selina to Lois. "If I may say, Miss Lois, you make a very fetching vigilante."

Lois posed for him. "Thanks Alfred. I'm trying to come up with a name. Let me know if you think of one."

Alfred gave his promise and vanished off the screen. Lois turned a more serious face to Selina.

"Are you okay? Is Bruce okay?" Worried drenched her voice.

Selina dragged a hand down her face. "I'm fine. Bruce is fine. _We're_ fine. It was a few years ago but that…..woman is not getting near him again if I can help it." She pulled in a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I can't tell you."

"Hey." Lois put her hand on Selina's arm. "I don't need to know. Just, I'm here for you."

"Thanks. I appreciate it." Selina smiled sadly at her. "We should be there soon."

NANDA PARBAT

NIGHTIME

OUTSIDE THE SHADOWS' COMPOUND

"Poor little Cheshire. You were so close. You almost made it." Talia approached Cheshire's still form. The assassin's unconscious body was lying on the ground. She was covered in cuts, some deeper than others, and bruises.

"I'd stop there if I were you." Catwoman flipped off a rock and landed between Cheshire and Talia.

"Catwoman." Talia snarled.

"Talia. Always a pleasure." Catwoman held a casual stance making note of where each assassin was located. It didn't escape her notice that Sportsmaster was among the assembly. "She made it Talia. The boundary is thirty feet behind you. She made it out alive."

"Barely." Talia sniffed.

"Horseshoes and hand grenades." Catwoman smirked. "She still made it."

"Fine. Take her. She's free of the Shadows. For as long as she lives." It was Talia's turn to smirk. Canary and Red Arrow landed on either side of Catwoman. Red Arrow carefully gathered Cheshire in his arms and lifted her from the ground. "The Shadows will uphold their end of the agreement."

Catwoman nodded. Both she and Canary moved backward, their eyes on the assassins keeping Red Arrow covered as he carried Cheshire away.

"Catwoman." Talia smiled charmingly. "You will deliver a message to my Beloved. You will tell him I think of our last night together. I dream often of the passion we shared."

Catwoman didn't leap or roar; she smiled curiously and tilted her head instead. "Do you? How odd. He has barely any memory of that time. No, I don't think my Tiger wants to hear anything you have to say."

The voice in Catwoman's head screamed for her to leap at the woman and rip her to pieces, make her pay for her crimes, but she continued to move with Canary. She was so pre-occupied she missed the small figure that had gotten closer to her flank to get a better look.

BATPLANE

OVER THE ATLANTIC HEADED BACK TO STAR CITY

Selina walked to where Roy was seated holding Jade's hand. Jade was laid out in the medical bay hooked to machines and IVs.

"She's going to be fine." Selina rested her hand on Roy's shoulder.

"I know." He looked up at Selina. "Thank you for all of this."

"Hey I have some experience in wanting to change your life for a kid and good man." Her lips quirked. "Mine was pretty painful too. Especially when Bruce decided to hug me; he didn't know I had broken ribs."

Roy winced. "Where do we go from here?"

"It isn't going to be easy." Selina sighed. "The Shadows will hold up their side. No one will come after you or her or Lian. Her records will be expunged. As I understand, that should cover all of her criminal records. Obviously, people will remember but there won't be any proof. It will be our side that will make things difficult."

"Seriously, they'll do all that?" Roy was shocked.

"They don't do anything half way." Selina smiled. "Lois was serious when she said we would be here for you. It will help to have us on your side but it still won't be easy. People will dismiss having G.A and Canary on your side as them being your parents-"

"They're not my parents." Roy responded automatically.

"What is that, preprogrammed with you guys?" Selina rolled her eyes.

"Sorry." He muttered.

"Yeah. Maybe you guys could start thinking about how we all like hearing that flung out on automatic all the time." Selina muttered back. "Anyway, having Batman on your side will help. Quite a bit too but if she steps out of line I'm going to smack her back in so hard she might never get the dent out." She stopped when she saw Roy gaping at her. "What?"

"Batman supports this?" Roy was in shock.

"He remembers how hard it was." Selina leaned forward in a conspiratorial way and dropped her voice to a whisper. "I'll let you in on a secret we better pray the underworld never finds out about – there is very little he wouldn't do for your little girl."

There was an extended silence and then Roy started to laugh. The rich sound filled the medical bay. It released all the pent up tension, fear, and anger he had been suppressing. It took several minutes before he stopped and then he was wiping at his eyes.

"Feel better now?" Selina grinned at him. He nodded. "Why don't you take a break and I'll stay back here. Promise I'll let you know right away if she wakes up."

Roy hesitated, then nodded, and walked out of the medical bay. Selina watched him go and then turned back to the bed her smile vanishing.

"You can stop playing possum now. He's gone." Her tone was firm.

Jade opened her eyes slowly. "You're good."

"Yes, I am." Selina considered her. "Why didn't you want him to know you were awake?"

"Just wasn't quite ready yet." She closed her eyes for a moment and opened them again. "Pretty wiped out."

"Fair enough." Selina nodded. "You ready for this?"

"The hero game?" Jade made a face.

"It's either the hero game or normalcy." Selina smirked. "How do you feel about being a soccer mom?"

Jade gave a slight shudder. "You couldn't have left me with the Shadows?"

Selina laughed. "Seriously though. You have good people backing you up. You were one of the best assassins in the world. I was one of the best thieves. It's a matter of using your skills in a different way. You can't kill anymore. You have to protect. Are you trying to tell me you can't find a way to take those skills and protect someone? That you can't take all your knowledge of the Shadows and other organizations to take down their operations? Think of the way your little girl will look at you if you do that because when your kid looks at you like you're a hero that's really all that counts. Not what anyone else, even Superman, thinks."

Jade regarded her silently.

Roy made his way to front of the plane. As he got closer he could hear and see Dinah and Lois laughing. They were something the three of them, an unstoppable trio. He'd heard that Clark had tried to stop Lois from being friends with Selina in the beginning which had not gone over well with the feisty brunette. He wasn't sure there was much that scared him more than those three women, unless it was Alfred and Ma Kent. A shudder ran down his spine.

"Roy." Dinah smiled up at him. "Is Jade awake?"

"Not yet. Selina's with her." Going with his impulse he dropped a kiss on Dinah's cheek.

Dinah pressed a hand to the cheek he had kissed and stared at him. Lois was looking at him with both eyebrows raised. Roy felt guilt sneak into his heart and remembered Selina's words. He was going to have to talk to Dick and Jason as soon as he had time.

"Ummm, I wanted to say thank you. For helping us out." He paused. "Selina told me what you are going to do for us going forward so thank you for that too."

"Well you have me at least." Lois smiled at him. "I don't make any promises about my husband. Given all the difficulties he had with Selina I can't imagine how he'll react to Jade."

"You're all we need Lois." Roy took her hand. "What's one Superman against the three of you?"

"Well we're about to find out." Dinah said. "We're back and Selina sent a message ahead to say we were coming in so I imagine that Ollie, Clark, and Bruce are waiting for us."

In the end they didn't get to hear Clark's opinion on Jade's new status. Superman took one look at his wife in black Kevlar, armour, and combat boots with a domino mask on that she had neglected to remove and his jaw dropped. His eyes glowed red; he grabbed Lois up in his arms, and they were gone.

Ollie, Dinah, and Roy took Jade away to their own medical bay to get her settled leaving Selina and Bruce alone in the landing bay. Bruce said nothing but strode directly on to the Batplane. Selina sighed and followed him.

Once the plane was in the air and set on autopilot he shoved up and strode to the center of the plane, shoving his cowl off. Selina sighed again and stood up slowly, following him. She pulled her cowl off and shook out her hair.

He paced. As he turned back to her he stopped.

"You went there without me." He growled.

"I did." She agreed.

"You instructed Alfred not to contact me." He growled again.

"I did that too." Selina put her hands on her hips.

"Stop being so agreeable!" He yelled.

"Stop giving me things to agree with!" She yelled back.

He reached forward and yanked her to him, holding her pressed against him tightly.

"What if-"

"No. No what if." She whispered. "I'm fine. I'm right here. I'm in one piece, without a mark. She didn't lay a finger on me."

"Promise me you won't do that again." His hand was wrapped in her hair.

"Yes. One condition.

He pulled back from her. "What's that?"

"That you never go near Talia or anything remotely associated with her for any reason ever again either." Selina smiled sweetly at him.

Bruce let go of her and stepped back. "I can't do that. You can't ask me too."

"Then don't ask me to either." The knife edge was in her smile.

"That's different." He tried.

"Really?" Selina's voice was far too pleasant. "Please. Explain to me how it's different."

"I." He faltered. "If she, if anything happened, I can't lose you again. Not permanently."

Selina moved forward and Bruce bent to place his forehead on hers.

"I'm not going to say nothing will happen when we both know painfully well it could." Selina placed her hands on his chest. "Neither of us will chase her down unless necessary. We will do our best to ensure the other knows our course of action AND we will do so giving them enough time to accompany us if possible. Agreed?"

Bruce was motionless for a long moment and then he nodded. "Agreed."

"Good." Selina rose on her toes. "Now welcome me home."


End file.
